The grumpy thread

[MikeR]

5 minutes ago, High Jetter said:

Might just be a dodgy t/couple

Going to try a new one to get by for now ..... 

[New POD]

2 hours ago, Vimesy said:

The best printer that I bought (and still have and use intermittently) is a cheap Ricoh laser printer, ideal for postage labels and it's never failed me yet....

That's fucked it. 

[TataBobu]

1 hour ago, Metal Guru said:

Or you can save the mess and by “compatible” cartridges from eBay or Amazon. The correct Epsom cartridges cost about £45 a set ( the actual printer cost less), but I can get about 3 sets for £10 of copies, so a year’s worth us about £5 for me.

Very occasionally ( less than one per pack), the printer won’t accept one but at less than £1 a go , it’s not too upsetting. 

That's lucky, price wise. My printer takes HP302 cartridges, which are here around 100 RON (120 for an XL one), and compatible cartridges are around 50-70 RON. I can buy 100 ml of black ink for 13 RON online, or for 20 RON  two minutes down the street. And I got refilling down to an art, it takes me around 3 minutes to refill it and get it going again. For me it doesn't make sense from price per printed page perspective to go any other route.

PS: 1£=~6 RON

[Zelandeth]

Best thing I ever did regarding printers was sticking the metaphorical middle finger up at consumer grade tat, and bought an early 00s commercial colour laser unit.  One from before HP's professional gear followed the consumer stuff down the pan quality wise.  It was rated for something like 25K pages per month, and has done less than 5K total.

All toners had more than 50% showing when we got it, and none have moved visibly on the display since we got it, several years ago now.

Handles two sided printing too which is nice.  As is the ~20ppm speed when printing larger documents.

Think it was £130ish including shipping (on a pallet) from a company on eBay who refurbs them.

Picked this exact model as it's the one bit of IT equipment that even the Council Roads department couldn't kill!  Even if it did nearly kill *me* getting this thing up the stairs.  It weighs a goddamn tonne.

[MikeR]

2 hours ago, High Jetter said:

Might just be a dodgy t/couple

called in the parts place to see if any where avb ...

computer  said   NO !

obsolete , old , unobtainium

[Talbot]

9 minutes ago, MikeR said:

called in the parts place to see if any where avb ...

computer  said   NO !

obsolete , old , unobtainium

Just find out what type of thermocouple it is (there are a limited number of types, all identified with a letter) and buy an industrial one for a few quid and splice it in.

[MikeR]

15 minutes ago, Talbot said:

Just find out what type of thermocouple it is (there are a limited number of types, all identified with a letter) and buy an industrial one for a few quid and splice it in.

Just tried a universal one , no two bits matched the original , the nut , the head ...all different 

[Low Horatio gearbox]

The boiler  not  quite dying yet  but it's on its last legs. 

[beko1987]

I got lucky with my printer, bought it during lockdown, a fancy HP Colour laserjet with a whole spare set of toner. £40, streaky pages. Guy said he told his work and they just shipped him a new one. 

Got home and swapped the yellow toner for the 2nd one and the streaking stopped, but the colours were still shit. No worries though as I only wanted it for postage labels so could se tit to black only. 

9 happy months went by, but the colour print was still fucked. So I changed the magenta, and that magically fixed everything! Prints fucking superbly now, Eva does colour photos for school! 

Was a big relief as it had 2 sets of non genuine toner in, and I assume 2 of those were duff, which is fine. Fully happy now to buy more cheap toner for it now I know it works! Plays very nicely on the network too although it stays turned off mostly unless being used. 

I binned* a lovely surprising modern canon inkjet prior that worked fantastically, fully against the stories of every £30 printer from Tesco. It stopped pulling in the pages and I knew it had done a cheap printer and that was it, so I let the kids have at it with a screwdriver and... Eva found a hairband in a roller, but after they'd fucked it as I said they could taking it apart... Was sorry for the little guy and I had a new ink cart waiting for rhe fucking thing too I'd just wasted 🤣

I check thinks more thoroughly now

[chaseracer]

Christ alive, that was a SHIT day.  Still, there's always tomorrow...

👍

[High Jetter]

7 hours ago, MikeR said:

Just tried a universal one , no two bits matched the original , the nut , the head ...all different 

Most offer a uni one, with unthreaded probe, and a threaded 'super' one. Maybe some are propriety, could you post a pic of it?

[MikeR]

10 minutes ago, High Jetter said:

Most offer a uni one, with unthreaded probe, and a threaded 'super' one. Maybe some are propriety, could you post a pic of it?

I will need to strip it out , but the uni probe would not fit/slide into the too small  holder , and the orig connection nut is a strange size , it uses a 8mm spanner thou ?? .  Tried heating probe tip tonight with a oven lighter but no response .. I do have a non working spare gas tap to work on for trying the fit .

[High Jetter]

39 minutes ago, MikeR said:

I will need to strip it out , but the uni probe would not fit/slide into the too small  holder , and the orig connection nut is a strange size , it uses a 8mm spanner thou ?? .  Tried heating probe tip tonight with a oven lighter but no response .. I do have a non working spare gas tap to work on for trying the fit .

3/8th for valve end, 5/16 at the jet end on mine. Other choices are available, obs

[MikeR]

On 12/11/2023 at 13:09, MikeR said:

head light bulbs ... duff ones ... changing them is now longer a roadside job ..

sons aygo became one eyed at night , just pull the bulb and pop in a new one ..  thats the plan

no , the bulb arse is up against the turret , the connector is also seized on , and its cold , and its raining ..and the rubber boot wont even shift

in the end we undid all the bolts and forced the headlight unit around till we could get  the bulb out , new one in , test and refit ..

but as one duff bulb normally means the others on its way , in the interests of not suffering on a snowy day we went for some more hand abuse and injuries

by replacing the nearside bulb as well ....

which had the added satisfaction of the earthing lead being in the way , and extra wiggle  room to get the unit moved had to be  acquired by undoing the wing bolt and gently HEAVING till we could get the bulb changed ,tested  , and  refitting involved MORE HEAVING involving long tools to get it back  ..

quite a light injury list , just 3 minor cuts and some blood loss

next time I see a bug with panel gaps I will put it down to headlight bulb changes ...

One new bulb has fubared already .

I see more cuts and blood loss in the near future ..

[MikeR]

11 hours ago, High Jetter said:

3/8th for valve end, 5/16 at the jet end on mine. Other choices are available, obs

Playing with the drill bits gets the uni thermocouple to go on the jet end ( non working spares used ) , but the tap end is missing a suitable nut ,, perhaps cut a slot in the existing nut and reuse it , unless the plumber has one on his dash ?

At least it would keep us going till  the new boiler went in ...

[MikeR]

Anti grump ....

It appears I can have a freebie new boiler 👍

Survey next week .... 

[108]

3 hours ago, MikeR said:

Anti grump ....

It appears I can have a freebie new boiler 👍

Survey next week .... 

That’s a result! Enjoy the warmth. 

[High Jetter]

6 hours ago, MikeR said:

Playing with the drill bits gets the uni thermocouple to go on the jet end ( non working spares used ) , but the tap end is missing a suitable nut ,, perhaps cut a slot in the existing nut and reuse it , unless the plumber has one on his dash ?

At least it would keep us going till  the new boiler went in ...

Any nut on old t/couple should slide off one end or t'other I think, unless it's a split one that comes off at a flattened bit.

[barefoot]

I’ve just had to send an, “ever since you” email to the garage. Ever since they fitted my passenger door, my Scirocco ’s just not run right. I’ve tried driving with the doors locked and unlocked, windows wound up and down and it’s just shite. Luckily they’ve admitted it’s all their fault and they’ll sort it all out for me FOC on Friday. 
Fucked servo, air leak and I’ll be paying.

[Bren]

When the local bin men are on strike

Thinking of getting professor Brian Cox out to our blue bin - so much shite in  it it defies all known physical laws.

[hairnet]

Train cunts on strike again

The last three times and also one last year every time.im doing.something it happens

Apparently average wage for driver staff is over 50 grand

Payrise my.arse

[Mrcento]

Top tip for sellers... especially on FB marketplace, If you want to sell the thing you've advertised, as much as dealing with people generally is a fucking pain, you do actually need to reply to people. If something's still sitting there 5 weeks after you advertise it and you're just not bothering to answer anyone who is genuinely interested, that's probably why it is indeed still sat there. Thanks.

[Bren]

Had a couple of ditchfinders fitted to the insignia. It had a fault code - and light - for a faulty TPMS.

Imagine my disgust to find car has no sensors fitted - the fault code obviously a red herring from before somebody fitted the VXR wheels. That's £50 wasted on a sensor.

Then a couple of the nuts decided to give up their threads - I drove home with three nuts on one wheel - my arse was like pingu's mouth.

Euro crap arts provided two new nuts. Lookers simply stated they had nothing for a car " that old". 

On this forum 2014 is brand new.

[sierraman]

20 minutes ago, Bren said:

Had a couple of ditchfinders fitted to the insignia. It had a fault code - and light - for a faulty TPMS.

Imagine my disgust to find car has no sensors fitted - the fault code obviously a red herring from before somebody fitted the VXR wheels. That's £50 wasted on a sensor.

Then a couple of the nuts decided to give up their threads - I drove home with three nuts on one wheel - my arse was like pingu's mouth.

Euro crap arts provided two new nuts. Lookers simply stated they had nothing for a car " that old". 

On this forum 2014 is brand new.

Map them out then forget about it. 

[Bren]

13 minutes ago, sierraman said:

Map them out then forget about it. 

Yes - but I think it needs tech 2 and a VX specialist.

[sierraman]

22 minutes ago, Bren said:

Yes - but I think it needs tech 2 and a VX specialist.

Worth it though as you can forget about it, it’s done and dusted then. 

[MrBiscuits]

21 minutes ago, sierraman said:

Worth it though as you can forget about it, it’s done and dusted then. 

I think TPMS was mandatory on a 2014 car. Not sure if they check the warning light at the MOT these days or the legality of removing it?

[sierraman]

21 minutes ago, MrBiscuits said:

I think TPMS was mandatory on a 2014 car. Not sure if they check the warning light at the MOT these days or the legality of removing it?

If it’s not coming up with the warning it’ll be fine. 

[richardmorris]

Watching jmm on YouTube just now, on the Maserati ownership costs from new… the airbag light had annual repairs at hundreds of pounds and obviously was never really fixing it.

 

in 15 years and 130,000 miles total is £54,000! Plus 14mpg and buying it for £95,000 in the first place.

 

 

 

[High Jetter]

5 hours ago, Mrcento said:

Top tip for sellers... especially on FB marketplace, If you want to sell the thing you've advertised, as much as dealing with people generally is a fucking pain, you do actually need to reply to people. If something's still sitting there 5 weeks after you advertise it and you're just not bothering to answer anyone who is genuinely interested, that's probably why it is indeed still sat there. Thanks.

Fb. Oh dear